The present invention pertains to an apparatus and method for providing cleaning solutions. In particular, the present invention pertains to providing cleaning solutions of sufficient strength or potency to comply with predetermined standards, for example, governmental standards, for particular applications, such as cleaning laboratories.
Many attempts have been made to provide effective ways to clean areas. One of the most easy and prevalent ways to achieve clean areas is by wiping the surfaces of an area with a cleaning solution and a wipe. Cleaning agent is intended to include disinfectants, sanitizers, antimicrobials, virucides, fungicides, and the like and is intended to encompass the active ingredients and not additives such as detergents, surfactants, stabilizing agents and the like.
One method is to use a prepared liquid bleach and/or other prepared cleaning solutions to clean areas. The liquid bleach or other cleaning solution is applied to the surface and the surface is scrubbed with a wipe, or the liquid bleach or cleaning solution is applied to the wipe and then the surface is scrubbed with the wipe.
Cleanliness of certain preparation area or rooms is becoming a bigger issue for a diverse group of organizations such as pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, industrial research facilities, patient care facilities, and animal research facilities. Cleaning is an especially important issue for pharmaceutical testing laboratories. Specifically, clean animal facilities are critical to the health and well-being of the animals, researchers, and animal care technicians who live and work in the facility. Clean facilities also help to ensure the accuracy of research by keeping potential contaminants at bay.
Because of the importance of clean rooms in these various industries, the government and other organizations have provided guidelines for the concentration of cleaning agents used in the cleaning solutions. For example, when bleach is used, it must have a concentration of at least 1000 parts per million (ppm) of available chlorine for general purpose disinfection, which is a cleaning agent within a bleach formula.
Liquid cleaning solutions, however, are replete with problems. Most liquid cleaning solutions, especially liquid bleach, lose their cleaning potency over time because the cleaning agents react with water molecules, metals, heat and environmental conditions to undergo hydrolysis and other reactions. For example, thirty to fifty percent of the chlorine in liquid bleach deteriorates over time because of hydrolysis and other reactions. As a result, if liquid bleach is used during cleaning operations, there is an increased probability that the concentration of active chlorine will drop below the minimum needed for disinfection.
Further, when liquid cleaning solutions are used, there is often too little solution used, leaving an unsanitized environment; and, in other cases, there is too much solution used, resulting in solution wastage. Liquid cleaning solution may also be spilled, resulting in unsafe conditions.
To alleviate some of these problems, pre-wetted wipes that are wetted with the appropriate amount of cleaning solution have been used. A problem with these wipes, however, is that, in addition to the cleaning solution losing its strength or potency over time, the solution reacts with most common fabrics used for the wipes. The reaction causes degradation of the wiping material and of the cleaning agents within a short period of time.
As provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,062,381 and 6,001,187, Paley and others addressed the wipe degradation issue. These patents disclose a small container that stores the appropriate amount of cleaning solution. The smaller container is positioned within a larger container, which encloses the wipes. When the wipes are needed for cleaning purposes, the smaller container is broken, releasing the liquid onto the wipes. Because the cleaning solution and the wipes were isolated, there was reduced, if any, wipe degradation. But, the cleaning solution still loses its potency over time.
As a result, there still exists a need for an apparatus and method for providing cleaning solutions that have sufficient potency to adequately clean areas when the solutions will be used, at the point of use.